DAY SEVENTEEN: God's Upside-Down New Way

In Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1.46-55, the young woman continues her song by moving beyond the personal blessings God has bestowed upon her to meditate on God's plan of the ages—his salvation plan to overthrow the world system and make a new heavens and new earth.

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
⁵² He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly;
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.

God's plan is one of judgment—he scatters the proud, as at Babel, and takes into account not only human actions, but also the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. The powerful, who rule over humankind through selfish ambition, deceit, corruption and violence, are stripped of their authority and humiliated. The rich, who have enjoyed the luxuries of life at the expense of the poor, are given no seat at the table.

Those who have lived by and advanced the world system—"the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life" (1John 2.16)—that is, those who have lived pursuing the triune idol of sex, money and power; lust, covetousness and hubris, will find themselves with nothing in the end.

God's plan is also one of salvation. Those who fear the Lord; that is, those who see themselves as accountable creatures who live only by the sovereign mercy and grace of their Creator, who owe their lives and all they have to his kindness and generosity, who trust in his Word and his salvation, who seek to live in his presence with faithful devotion, who are often denied satisfaction or "success" in this world—to these folks God's mercy will come. The lowly will one day be exalted. The hungry fed.

We see glimpses of this now, but will one day experience it in its fullness. This upside-down value system invaded our world and became evident in a newer, clearer way when Jesus walked the earth, and when the apostles carried his Good News to the ends of the earth. It should be continually manifested even today in the lives of those who have his Spirit.

Is it being manifested through you? Through me?